The Russian military bombed an art school serving as a refuge for several hundred people in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine, local authorities charged on Sunday, adding that civilians were trapped under the rubble.
“Russian occupiers yesterday (Saturday) dropped bombs on the G12 art school on the left bank of Mariupol, where 400 Mariupol residents — women, children and the elderly — had taken refuge“said the municipality of this port city besieged by forces from Moscow. “We know the building was destroyed and peaceful people are still under the rubble. The toll on the number of victims is being clarified“, she added in a statement posted on Telegram.
These statements might not immediately be independently verified.
Mariupol, a large city in southeastern Ukraine, has been the target for several weeks of heavy bombardment by Russian forces and their pro-Russian separatist allies.
On Thursday, Ukraine accused Moscow of bombing a theater in the city where hundreds of residents had taken refuge, disregarding the warning “Diéti” (“Children”, in Russian) written on the ground in giant letters next to the building. No balance sheet is yet available.
According to kyiv, more than 2,100 people have been killed in Mariupol since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
War crime
The survivors hide in cellars, suffering from multiple shortages. Survivors recounted the corpses lying in the streets for several days, hunger, thirst and the biting cold.
inflict”such a thing as a peaceful city (…), it is an act of terror that will be remembered even in the next century“, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was indignant on Sunday, denouncing a “war crime“.
The city is of strategic importance insofar as its capture would allow Russia to make the connection between its troops in the Crimea and those in the Donbass (east), while barring access to the Sea of Azov to the Ukrainians.
In Kharkiv, in the east of the country, five people were killed during the shelling of an apartment building, according to the police. According to local authorities, a nine-year-old boy is among the victims.
